Nora Valkyrie/Behind the Scenes
Throughout the production of a series, a lot goes on behind the scenes in regards to planning and design, which often go through multiple stages before resulting in the final version that is seen on screen. Some concepts and ideas can have an effect on the show and characters, and unexpected occurrences during production can also lead to changes and additions to the plans for the show. Character Basis Nora Valkyrie alludes to Thor, from Norse mythology, which follows JNPR's theme of people who dressed themselves as the opposite gender.Monty Oum's Twitter In order to steal back his hammer, Thor once had to disguise himself as the goddess Freyja, wearing bridal gear along with the disguise. This allusion has had the following effects on the character and the show: *Her emblem is a hammer with a lightning bolt through it. *She wields a warhammer that has a Norse name. Thor is said to wield a hammer called Mjolnir. **The idea for Nora's weapon also stems from a video of a Mexican tradition where explosives are hit with sledgehammers.[http://youtu.be/dd6VbiD2iyk?t=1h9m45s Roooster Teeth Podcast #235] *Her last name is Valkyrie, which references the fact that Thor had to disguise himself as Freyja, who is sometimes associated with valkyries. *Her Semblance allows her to absorb and produce electricity to power up her muscles, giving her more strength. Thor is known for his strength and his connection to lightning and thunder. *She discovered her Semblance when she was struck by lightning on a Thursday. The word "Thursday" means "Thor's Day" in Old English and is named after Thor. Emblem Nora's emblem is a hammer with a lightning bolt going through it. This emblem appears on some of Nora's possessions: *On the head of her hairbrush. *Original battle outfit - on the back of her shirt. *Pajamas - on her Boop shirt. *On the ear pieces of her headphones. *Timeskip battle outfit - on the back of her jacket. *Suitcase - on the suitcase she has in Volume 6. *Atlas battle outfit - armlet on her left bicep. Image Gallery v1e4 nora hair brush.png|Hair brush v1e8 nora emblem.png|Original battle outfit V2 06 00022.png|Headphones and pajamas v4e1 nora emblem.png|Timeskip battle outfit V6 01 00023.png|Suitcase V7 05 00026.png|Atlas battle outfit Appearance Original Battle Outfit Not much of Nora's appearance has changed from the concept art that was drawn by Einlee. Both pieces show her wearing the same outfit as her final design, albeit the ribbons of her bow are shorter, due to animation limitations.Volume 2 Production Diary 1 The only other difference that can be seen is that her eyes were originally going to be pink. Image Gallery ProductionDiary2 01094.png|Old concept art by Einlee, depicting Nora with pink eyes Nora concept.jpg|Concept art by Einlee Concepts With No Change There are no visible differences between the show and concept art versions of the following outfit. Nora Timeskip.jpg|Timeskip battle outfit by Einlee Production *Monty Oum told Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross that "Nora is a powerful woman" and let them come up with the rest of her personality. Miles and Kerry's development of Nora's personality began with her and Lie Ren's introduction scene in "The First Step". They decided that Nora is a morning person, while Ren is not. From there, "it exploded" into Nora always being energetic and Ren never being energetic.Volume 1 Director's Commentary *Nora's very first scene, where she wakes up Ren singing "It's morning!", also served as Samantha Ireland's audition for the role.Samantha Answering a Question *From the beginning, they wanted Nora to wield a hammer, and Monty stated that he did not want her hammer to be a "dinky" one-handed one.[https://youtu.be/_wU_dQEj7uc?t=2946 RWBY Crew Chat (at 49:06)] *In the original Volume 1 Opening storyboard, Nora hops onto Jaune Arc's back while he is posing with Ren and Pyrrha Nikos. *After Volume 3, Rooster Teeth changed animation software from Poser Pro 2013 to Autodesk Maya. With this change, the animation department also made all new models for RWBY. The Nora Valkyrie model's face was given modeled lips. Image Gallery Vol1op storyboard 00024.png|Original storyboard for the Volume 1 Opening V3e1 nora talking.png|The Poser Pro Nora model V4 01 00123.png|The Maya Nora model in Volume 4 References Category:Behind the Scenes pages